With the impact of COVID-19 being felt across the world, our thoughts are with those impacted. Lockdown measures have been implemented as part of “flattening the curve”, including in both Amsterdam and Hamburg, and it appears that some countries are starting to see positive impacts from measures taken and light at the end of the tunnel.
At the end of March and as a response to finding ourselves in an unexpectedly different world, we released a COVID-19 business continuity statement on the IEA website. As part of adapting to the new situation we have been reacting on an almost daily basis to new information and changes occuring.
Colleagues across IEA are being affected from changes and disruptions to workload. This applies to colleagues working on German studies as many of such were postponed or canceled (such as Bildungstrend 2020, EvlK, & PISA 2021 field test). But also members of our international studies team and those working across several capacity projects are affected, as studies and projects have also been postponed. Likewise, with fewer staff going into IEA offices, this also means some jobs that depend on being in the physical office are impacted. Altogether, these changes have a significant effect on the daily running of IEA and we have had to take a difficult decision to place some IEA Hamburg staff members onto “Kurzarbeit". Other measures implemented by IEA as a response to the COVID-19 crisis include the discontinuation of some staff contracts in Amsterdam, the temporary freezing of hires across IEA, and the cancellation of all business travel, social events, and staff training and development.
The response from Hamburg and Amsterdam staff has been overwhelmingly supportive and understanding of the challenges that we are jointly facing, and we want to thank our colleagues for their great flexibility and dedication to the work of IEA. These are incredibly challenging and uncertain times for everyone and the management team is working hard to minimize the impacts on employees and on our partners and colleagues.
With all the change right now, we are humbled by how colleagues are working together to find new solutions, whether it be working from home or setting up virtual meetings. All while dealing with the many changes and challenges in our personal lives too.
We will continue to share updates with further developments on our IEA website. Please take care of yourselves and each other as we continue to adapt to these new challenges.